Paralell Worlds
by D.L.Belikova
Summary: Dimitri ran away with Christian, and Rose went to get him. Rated T for languge
1. First Impressions DPOV

Chapter 1

I woke up to the sound of stones being thrown at my second story window. At first I thought it would be someone playing a prank again, like usual. At high school, I was considered a freak because I preferred to keep to myself. At first—almost two years ago—the girls had tried to talk to me, but I wouldn't talk to them, only to Christian. So people like to wind me up by throwing things at my window. I was shocked this time that it was stones, not tomatoes, or eggs like usual.

Usually, they stop after about two minutes, but when nearly ten minutes had passed and they were still throwing things at my window, I got kinda pissed off and went to see what they wanted. And what I saw shocked me half to death.

There was a dhampir outside my window.

A girl dhampir, about my age, with long, dark hair, and big brown eyes stared up at me. And let me tell you, she was _hot._ And then I realised that she had probably come with the academy, and I felt the colour drain from my face. If she had come with the academy, then she was probably here to take me and Christian back. She walked towards the front of the house, and I turned to see Christian barely stirring from sleep. I pulled on a pair of jeans and a t-shirt and kicked his bed.

"Dude!" I whisper-shouted. "Wake up! They came to g—" I was cut off by a loud banging on the front door to our apartment. Shit. Christian sat up abruptly, his black hair sticking up in all directions. I threw clothes at him. "Get dressed, dude. We're not getting away now." She banged on the door again and I went to go answer it.

"Open the fucking door, or I'll break it down!" she yelled and I left to go answer it. Well she didn't sound much like a guardian. "About fucking time." She complains as I open the door to her and she walks in. She's wearing an ivory trench coat that comes to her knees and jeans. Her hair was worn loose. She didn't look like a guardian, either. I clenched my fists ready to fight her, even though there's a chance she might not have come with the Academy. She took one look at my fists and said, "Don't even try it. I know what you're thinking, and there's no point. Yes, I am a guardian, and yes, I did come to take you back to school, but if you would just listen to what I'm about to say, then you would probably think so, too."

"I still think I could take you. I mean, how old are you, for a start? There's no way you're a guardian."

"I'm eighteen, and, no, you couldn't take me." And she turned around and lifted her hair. A promise mark, two molnija marks and a battle star. Well shit. "I graduated last semester. Hey, Sparky!" she yelled to Christian who had just entered the kitchen.

"Rose?" he asked warily. What? It couldn't be Rose Hathaway could it?

"Don't worry, I'm not here to plead her case. But you do need to come back with me."

She went to sit at the kitchen table and Christian followed. "So," he began, "what's been going on since we left?"

"Well, I graduated, and that's kinda what I wanted to talk to you about." I think she was about to say something more when Christian cut her off.

"Wait—you say you graduated? How is that possible? I didn't think Stan would let you graduate!" I sat down now, tired of waiting.

"Yeah, well, it's true. And I graduated at the top of my class. And that's kinda why I'm here. I need to talk to you about it." She paused, and waited for Christian to interrupt her, but he didn't, and she continued. "The week before the final trials, the school was attacked by Strigoi. I killed more than thirty Strigoi by myself, so they decided there was no point in giving me a trial, and I graduated right after, see?" she lifted her hair, and turned so Christian could see her marks. The look on his face was priceless. I wondered if that was what my face had looked like when I saw them.

"But—but—" he sputtered. Rose cut him off.

"Yes, Christian, last time you saw me I didn't have the marks from Spokane, and now I do, now would you listen?" she said darkly, but seeing the look on his face, she continued smiling, "but at least twenty-five or so got away, even though the other guardians got at least thirty between them, and they took Moroi with them, don't worry, Lissa wasn't one of them," she added seeing the look on his face. Lissa was his ex-girlfriend, and the reason we left in the first place. He was so in love with her and she didn't realise it. Rose continued. "Eddie was bitten again. And, then last week I thought if you two'd've been there, it'd have been an easier fight. You don't know me, but I read your file, and I know why you were transferred to St Vlad's." she addressed the last part to me, and turned to me, and I got the first full view of her face, and she was more beautiful than I'd realised. "So I hacked into a few high school databases until I found Christian Ozera and Dimitri Belikov at Portland High." She turned to me. "Rose Hathaway, pleased to meet you!" she extended a hand and I reluctantly shook it, shocked by her abruptness.

"Dimitri Belikov." I introduced myself warily. Christian laughed at the look on my face.

"Now let's get going," she said cheerfully, and then added, "School starts in less than twenty-four hours and I've still got to convince Kirova and Stan to let you back."

"Why Stan?" Christian asked.

"Because he hated me almost as much as he hated Rose. He probably threw a party when we left."

"No he still hates you. It's something about good students, I think. You were only there a week, and he already hated you. He still hates me because he didn't want me to graduate. And now he's pissed at me more than he was before, which means that he will do anything to stop me getting my way."

"Do the school know you came here?" I asked incredulously.

"No," both she and Christian said together.

"Like I said, Stan does everything he can to stop me doing what I want, so Liss made the pilot bring me here." She explained. "Now let's go." She demanded and stood up, waiting for us to follow. I stood up without complaint, but Christian said, "Is Lissa with you?"

"No, but she is still in school, and you can't avoid her forever…" she seemed to think about something for a second, and then said, "She still loves you, you know."

"Oh, really? So tell me, what is she doing right now?" Rose seemed to think for a moment more, and then a guilty look came over her face. "She's with him isn't she?"

"They only practise magic, Christian, it's not like anything's happening, and she's been gutted since you left."

"It didn't seem like they were practising magic when she had her tongue down his throat," Christian stated bitterly, and I could tell that he was trying not to cry.

"No, but they were both drunk, and she was upset because you'd had an argument and I can tell you that right now she is wishing that I'd hurry up and bring you back so she can see you again. And if you remember, you were the one who broke up with her. It was only five months ago; you can't be that retarded now, can you, Sparky?"

Christian gave a one-sided smile and said, "Yeah," then turned away to go pack our mere possessions. I followed him.

I could tell by his face that he was elated to hear she still loved him, but I knew what he was thinking of. The night he caught Lissa kissing Adrian. I wasn't there, but he'd told me about it so many times, I may as well have been.

They'd had an argument during the day about Adrian Ivashkov. He kind of has a reputation for getting with every girl he meets. Lissa had sworn there was nothing going on, but Christian didn't believe it. She'd gone to practise magic with Adrian and when Christian had gone to apologise, he just walked in, without knocking. They were on the couch, kissing, and Christian had just slammed the door, and left. As he'd let, he ran into Rose, who had been on the way to drag Lissa off of Adrian, presumably, and she'd comforted him, telling him how drunk Lissa was, and that she's gutted he saw that. He'd never broken up with her, but I'd transferred from Russia the next week. I didn't have any friends, but Christian talked to me, and a week after I arrived, I left with Christian. We'd been gone five months, now, but apparently, we were going back.

I'd heard stories about Rose; she was in the grade above us, and she was totally badass. Just two weeks before everything with Lissa had happened, he and Rose had been kidnapped by Strigoi, with two of Rose's friends, Mason and Eddie, and another Moroi, Mia. Eddie had been bitten by them, and Mason had been killed. Rose had gotten out Christian, Mia, and Eddie, and had killed the two Strigoi holding them captive. Rose and Mason had been dating, so she was pretty depressed afterwards; they must've waited until she was out of the whole depression thing before giving her the marks, because as far as Christian knew, she didn't have any molnija's.

I'd been transferred from St Basil's in Siberia because I was the best in my grade. They'd actually sent me to work with Rose, ironically, since I was almost at the same level as her, but when I got to St Vlad's, word was going round that she was ill, which was odd; dhampirs hardly ever get ill. I met Christian in the first couple days there, and three days later, we ran away; he couldn't stand to be around Lissa any longer. It was Christian who explained that Rose wasn't actually ill; she was just depressed.

We walked back towards the kitchen and found Rose searching the refrigerator. She seemed to be looking for something very particular, until—"Aha!" she yelled, pulling out a big slice of the pizza we'd had last night. Or, well, the pizza Christian had had last night; I ate mine, and most of his. There was about two slices left. She took a bite, and then looked at me and Christian. "Oh, sorry." She dug out the other slice and said, "You want some?"

I shook my head. "Are we going then?" I asked, impatiently. She shrugged, closed the refrigerator and walked out the apartment door. I followed, carrying both mine and Christian's suitcases. They were pretty heavy.

I had to admit, Rose looked pretty funny; she was just walking along, holding two massive pizza slices. And she only came up to about my shoulders. She was small, even for a dhampir. She was only about five-six, maybe five-seven, at the most. It took her about a minute to eat both slices. She took one suitcase from me, and hefted it along, when she was finished. The car was only a five minute walk from the apartment, and we walked in silence.

When we got to the SUV, we hefted the massive suitcases into the trunk. Christian climbed into the front seat, and I got into the back. Rose and Christian talked all the way to the airport, while I caught up on my sleep.

"Chris, you go sit over there; I want to talk to Dimitri." She motioned with her head towards the other side of the plane.

"Sure," Christian looked pretty confused. I know how he feels. She sat next to me.

"Why did you run away?" she started, "or do I not need to ask?"

"No, I don't think you do."

"Liss?" she asked. I nodded. "But you'd only known Christian, what, five days when you left? Were you not afraid he'd burn you up?"

"Well, that doesn't matter, does it? You know, _they come first_ and all that?"

"S'pose so."

"Why are you still at the school?" I asked.

"I'm set to be Lissa's guardian when she graduates," she explained, "it's what her parents wanted, and then—did Sparky tell you about the bond?"

"The basics." I murmured.

"Well, basically, in the car crash that killed her parents, I technically died, as well, and Lissa brought me back, so we have a bond, and now I get to be her guardian, more or less no matter what." She grinned at me. "And so I'm staying to teach for this next year, and also, I'll be mentoring you, if they let you stay. But if you hadn't left, I'd be doing that anyway. So, you think you could take me?" she asked with a dark smile.

"Well, it's hard to say, if you only consider that you've killed more than thirty Strigoi, I'd say no, but considering I'm more than a foot taller than you, and probably stronger I'd say yes, but seeing that I haven't trained in five months…I think no." she laughed at my nervous babble. The truth is I don't think I could take her on, no way, but if I hadn't left, I probably could.

"Well, we'll see about that later."

"If they let us back, that is."

"_When_ they let you back," she looked up at me, "I'll ask Lissa if there's anything she can do—wink-wink; nudge-nudge." She explained, seeing my confusion.

"Ah," I said, and then she stood and walked away.


	2. First Impressions RPOV

**A/N: I WON'T ALWAYS WRITE THE CHAPTERS IN BOTH ROSE AND DIMITRI POV, BUT I THOUGHT I SHOULD HAVE THEM MEETING FROM BOTH OF THEIR POV'S, JUST SO YOU CAN SEE EACH OTHER'S FIRST IMPRESSIONS; THE REST WILL BE IN DIMITRI POV, UNLESS THERE'SSOMETHING I WANT TO BE IN SOMEONE ELSE'S POV.**

Chapter 2

I threw another stone at the window and a guy—a very hot guy, I might add—looked out the window. And let me tell you, I was relieved. He was a dhampir. I had finally got the right window; I'd already gone for all the other guy dorms. After this one, I was going to give up.

I walked to round to the front of the apartment; I had to double check it _was_ Sparky's apartment. I couldn't be completely certain, since he wasn't the one to check out the window.

Now, should I knock, or bang and yell…? Bang and yell, I decided. I banged and heard someone moving around inside. I banged again when no one answered, and said, "Open the fucking door, or I'll break it down!" Okay, so I yelled loud enough for the whole school to hear me, so what? But I had no doubts that I could if I wan—

"Hey, lady, keep it down," a guy whispered, sticking his head out his door. When he saw me, his eyes widened, but I paid no attention.

I gave him a sickly sweet smile. "I'm sorry but would you like to fuck off before I break your neck?" I said in a psychotic tone. He looked terrified, but then the door opened. "About fucking time." I complained, walking in. it's a pretty cool place my old Sparky's got here.

I turned around and the guy who had answered the door, and the window, clenched his fists—he looked as though he was going to fight me—or should I say _try. _I'm one of the best guardians there is nowadays, and I'm not even being stuck up. I have killed over thirty Strigoi in the last year. Crazy, I know, but it's true.

"Don't even try it. I know what you're thinking, and there's no point. Yes, I am a guardian, and yes, I did come to take you back to school, but if you would just listen to what I'm about to say, you would probably think so, too." **(A/N: I noticed as I was writing this chapter that that line doesn't make much sense. What Rose means is that he would probably think there was no point in fighting her.)**

"I still think I could take you," he said stubbornly. Yup, I got the right apartment. Dimitri Belikov. Never backs down from a fight. "I mean how old are you, for a start? There's no way you're a guardian." Wrong again, buddy.

"I'm eighteen and, no, you couldn't take me." I turned and showed him my tattoos. I have a promise mark, two molnija's and a battle star. I killed around thirty Strigoi in that battle. "I graduated last semester." I explained turning back around again; I turned just in time to see the look on his face—he'd never seen so many kills, before. Most people haven't. "Hey, Sparky!" I said as he walked into the kitchen where we were talking.

"Rose?" he asked. Hehe, he looks terrified, but I know why. He thinks I'm here for Lissa; he wasn't listening to our conversation, obviously.

"Don't worry, I'm not here to plead her case. But you do need to come back with me." I sat down at the kitchen table, and Christian quickly followed suit.

"So, what's been going on since we left?" he asked.

"Well, I graduated, and that's kinda what I wanted to talk to you about." And then, as I was about to launch into my story, he interrupted me…of course.

"Wait—you say you graduated? How is that possible? I didn't think Stan would let you graduate!" he exclaimed. I almost laughed at his expression; his eyes were popping out of the sockets.

"Yeah, well, it's true. And I graduated top of my class. And that's kinda why I'm here. I need to talk to you about it." I paused, waiting for the interruption that didn't come; I realised that Dimitri had sat down next to me. "The week before the final trials, the school was attacked by Strigoi. I killed more than thirty Strigoi by myself, so they decided there was no point in giving me a trial, and I graduated right after, see?" I turned and lifted my hair, like I did with Dimitri, and he had the same expression Dimitri had worn. Ha ha.

"But—but—" he sputtered. This was getting better and better.

"Yes, Christian, last time you saw me I didn't have the marks from Spokane, and now I do, now would you listen?" I asked in my scary voice. This time, I couldn't hold back a grin at his expression; he gulped and looked absolutely terrified. "At least twenty-five or so got away, even though the other guardians got at least thirty between them, and they took Moroi with them," I look at Chris, and saw his concern for Lissa, and answered his unasked question, "Don't worry, Lissa wasn't one of them. Eddie was bitten again. And, then last week, I thought if you two'd've been there, it'd have been an easier fight." I turned toward Dimitri, giving him the first proper view of my face. "You don't know me, but I read your file, and I know why you were transferred to St Vlad's. So I hacked into a few high school databases until I found Christian Ozera and Dimitri Belikov at Portland High. Rose Hathaway, pleased to meet you!" I introduced myself, extending a hand for him to shake. He took it warily.

"Dimitri Belikov." He mumbled; Christian and I laughed at his expression.

"Now let's get going. School starts in less than twenty-four hours, and I've still got to convince Kirova and Stan to let you back."

"Why Stan?" Oh, Sparky, you really are as clueless as you look, aren't you?

"Because he hated me as much as he hated Rose. He probably threw a party when we left." Oh, my god. A guy who actually _understood_ something! Wait—how does he know Stan hated me? Hmm…oh, well. Probably Christian's doing.

"No, he still hates you. It's something about good students, I think. You were inly there a week, and he already hated you. He still hates me because he didn't want me to graduate. And now he's pissed mat me more than he was before, which means he will do anything to stop me getting my way." I explained. It didn't seem to shock him. No sooner than I had had that thought when a strange look crossed over his face. He seemed…confused.

"Do the school know you're here?" that shocked him more than the fact that Stan hates him after being away from him for five months.

"No," Good ol' Sparky. He knows me so well. We said it at the same time, and Dimitri gave us a strange look. "Like I said," I continued, "Stan does everything he can to stop me doing what I want, so Liss made the pilot bring me here. Now let's go." I commanded them. I stood up and made a sweeping gesture towards the door.

Dimitri stood up, but Firecrotch sat there and asked warily, "Is Lissa with you?" ooh, yay. I should've known he was going to say something like that.

"No, but she is still in school, and you can't avoid her forever…" Did I want to tell him or not? Eh, it's his love life anyway, and it'd come out sooner or later. "She still loves you, you know."

"Oh, really? So, tell me, what is she doing right now?" I slipped into her head easily.

She was with Adrian. He touched the plant, and for the first time ever, it sprang up straight away. They high-fived and hugged; Adrian went for a cigarette, and Lissa went to go get another plant to try on. He's getting good. But the only thing on her mind was—"She's with him, isn't she?"

Christian. She wants me to hurry up and bring Christian back to her so she can explain.

"They only practise magic, Christian, it's not like anything's happened, and she's been gutted since you left." It was true; there has not been a single hour to go by yet where she has not had a thought about him.

"It didn't seem like they were practising magic when she had her tongue down his throat," his eyes started to water; he looked at me and swallowed, his eyes drying up, gaining control over his eyes. I gave Dimitri a sidelong glance; he seemed to know what he was talking about.

"No, but they were both drunk, and she was upset because you'd had an argument and I can tell you that right now she is wishing that I'd hurry up and bring you back so she can see you again." I left out the part about her wanting to explain, because Christian would only have some smartass comment to come back with if I did tell him. "And if you remember, you were the one who broke up with her. It was only five months ago; you can't be that retarded now, can you, Sparky?"

He gave me a lop-sided smile, then the two boys walked to the bedroom to pack.

I walked to the refrigerator and opened the door. I smell pizza, but I can't see it. They have a well-stocked fridge. I rummaged a bit, until—"Aha!" I took a bite and then looked and realised the guys were staring at me. "Oh, sorry." I looked and noticed another humungous slice. I reached for it and offered it to them. "You want some?"

Dimitri shook his head impatiently. "Are we going then?" I shrugged, shut the refrigerator door, and walked out of the apartment, munching on my pizza. Well-stocked fridge, maybe, but there was not a doughnut in sight. Typical.

The guys followed behind me; Dimitri carrying both bags. It was probably best that I was in front, though, since I would probably have been side-tracked by something else…like Dimitri's butt. Don't judge; I am eighteen years old, and he is _smokin_'. He was also about six-foot-seven-ish, and had a sexy Russian accent. Not to mention his gorgeous face; I mean, that's just totally unfair! I bet he's one of those people who looks amazing no matter what kind of state they're in. I hate those people.

After about a minute, I finished my pizza and grabbed the smaller suitcase…and it turns out it wasn't so small; it just looked small since he's freakishly tall. Not that I'm complaining; he probably has one massive—Dammit. Stupid pavement.

I showed them the way to the SUV and shoved the suitcase in the trunk. I climbed into the front seat and Christian sat shotgun. We talked the whole way there. About everything that had been going on since he left.

Everything but Lissa.

I drove to the airport in no time; if I was with anyone else, they wouldn't have let me drive. No one ever does—even though I can get us anywhere twice as fast as Alberta can.

* * *

"Chris, you go sit over there; I want to talk to Dimitri." I said as I motioned to the other side of the plane. He gave me a funny look, but did as I asked.

"Sure." I sat down.

"Why did you run away? Or do I not need to ask?"

"No I don't think you do."

"Liss?" I asked, just to clarify. He nodded. "But you'd only known Christian, what, five days when you left? Were you not afraid he'd burn you up?" I teased.

"Well, that doesn't matter, does it? You know, _they come first_ and all that?"

"S'pose so."

He was quiet for a moment before asking, "Why are you still at the school?"

"I'm set to be Lissa's guardian when she graduated. It's what her parents wanted and then—" I cut myself off. "Did Sparky tell you about the bond?"

"The basics." He said. It was obviously still a foreign concept to him. I decided to explain.

"Well, basically, in the car crash that killed her parents, I technically died, as well, and Lissa brought me back, so we have a bond, and now I get to be her guardian, more or less no matter what." I grinned. We were like sisters, and we get to stay together after graduation. That's quite a rare occurrence. "And so I'm staying to teach this next year and also, I'll be mentoring you, if they let you stay. But if you hadn't left, I'd be doing that anyway. So you think you could take me?" I smiled darkly at the thought. I knew he couldn't, but it's hard to tell, since I've never seen him fight before.

"Well, it's hard to say. If you only consider that you've killed more than thirty Strigoi, I'd say no, but considering that I'm more than a foot taller than you, and probably stronger, I'd say yes, but seeing that I haven't trained in five months…I think no." he seemed nervous. He was babbling. I laughed.

"Well, we'll see about that later."

"If they let us back, that is."

"When they let you back." I corrected. I looked up at him, and seeing his confusion, I explained. "I'll ask Lissa if there's anything she can do—wink-wink; nudge-nudge." I said, nudging him as I spoke.

"Ah." He said; I cleared up the confusion.

I left to see Christian.

"Is it true that you blanked a girl, just because she had blond hair and green eyes?" I asked incredulously, remembering what he'd said earlier.

"That's what I said, isn't it?" he said in his trademark snarky tone. I punched his arm, lightly. We bantered for a little while longer, and I soon fell asleep.


	3. Kirova, Alberta, and Compulsion

**I know, I know, it's been ages since I last updated this story. I know, but I had writers block. I'm sorry.**

**DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN ANYTHING BUT THE PLOT.**

Chapter 3

It was the middle of the Academy's night when we got back to the school, and Rose practically dragged us off the plane.

"Rose. _Please_ tell me we're not going where I think we're going." Christian practically begged.

"We're not going where you think we're going." She tried to placate him…unsuccessfully.

"Don't lie, Rose." He glared. If he was thinking what I think he's thinking, this would break his heart. I don't know if he can handle it, seeing her again.

"I was just doing what you asked me to." She grabbed both our hands and pulled us out of our seats. "Now come." She ordered. "You can even wait outside if you want."

"Fine. And I _will_ be waiting outside."

The whole way, Christian grumbled to himself about not wanting to go there. And I could tell why.

When we got there, the first thing Rose did was bang on the door, probably waking up half the corridor. Then the yelling started. I should've seen it coming.

"Liss, get your ass up now, I got a surprise for you!" well if the corridor wasn't awake before, then they certainly are now.

The door was wrenched open. "What, Rose?" a very messy, sleepy-looking Lissa appeared in the doorway glaring at Rose. Her hair was messed, and she was wearing nothing but a tank and shorts.

"Oh, open your eyes, Lissa." she glared for a moment more before realising Christian was there. Her eyes flashed up to his and her jaw practically hit the floor.

"Chris—"

"Don't bother, Lissa."

"I'm sorry—"

"You should be!"

"I was drunk—"

"No shit."

"Would you let me finish a—"

"No." Rose clapped her hand over his mouth.

"Proceed." She said.

"Christian, I'm sorry, I—I was drunk; I—I didn't mean to kiss him, it's just, I—I—I was so upset and I just love you so much and—" she was crying by now. "I'm so, so sorry, Christian. Please forgive me."

"He'll forgive you if you compel Kirova into letting these two back." Rose said.

"Rose?" she asked.

"Yeah?"

"I was asking Christian."

"I know. I was answering for him. Now come."

"Can this not wait till the morning? You might not be, Rose, but I'm still in school. My senior year starts in _four hours_. I _need_ to _sleep_."

"I know you_ need_ to _sleep_," Rose mocked, "but these two _need_ to go to school tomorrow, too."

"Rose. Is Kirova even up yet?"

"Pwrobably." Christian mumbled from behind Roses hand.

"Did you just lick me?" she asked, but didn't remove her hand.

"Yesh."

"Eew." She still hadn't moved her hand.

"Well from the racket you just made, she probably is awake. The whole school's probably awake." I said.

"You're welcome. Now, go get dressed. If she isn't awake, we can wait in her office and give her a nice surprise when she gets there."

"Rose, why don't you go and ask Alberta. I'll sleep and you can come and wake me up in the morning. Wow, I think that's the first time I've ever said that." The last part sounded more like it was to herself.

"I _could_ do that, but then I wouldn't get the satisfaction of seeing both their faces at the same time."

Lissa glared for a second. "You're evil, you know that."

"Yes. Now go get dressed." She slammed the door in our face.

"Is she coming back?" I asked.

"Yes. In about one minutes time, she will come out looking perfect."

"Gawranteed." Christians muffled voice came from behind her hand. "Rre ooh goona move dat hammd?"

"Maybe." She shrugged.

"Cheeshush Gryst." He muttered to himself.

And then, right on cue, Lissa walked out looking perfect, just like Rose had said. She even had makeup on. Rose finally removed her hand from Christian's mouth.

"How do you do that?" she asked. Lissa just shrugged.

"It's a gift." She smiled angelically.

"You don't say." Lissa just laughed. Rose's head snapped up. "Oh, no, you didn't."

"Rose, I was kidding. You look great all the time. Better than me, usually." Rose glared at her for a moment before her expression softened and she laughed.

"I know. It's a gift." They both grinned and started walking. "This is Dimitri, by the way."

"Oh, hey! I heard about you." She extended a hand and I shook it. "I'm Lissa, by the way."

"Nice to meet you, Lissa."

"You, too." She smiled an angelic smile and I looked over to Christian. He looked more jealous than I thought possible. I let go of her hand and he turned to Lissa with a wistful expression. She stared back for just a moment before turning back to Rose.

We walked to the guardian's dorms. Rose took us into the lounge, where there was a rota of some sort on a clipboard. She checked it quickly before leading us away. She lead us to the administration building and banged on a big wooden door. She shushed me and Christian and ushered us round the corner, out of sight from the door. I listened to their conversation.

"Rose?" someone asked.

"Hi. Is Kirova awake?"

"Rose, are you feeling okay?"

"Fine and dandy; why you ask?"

"It's four a.m. and you just asked me about the woman you more than often refer to as Headmistress Bitch."

"I have a surprise for her. And it's Queen Bitch; Kirova's Headmistress Evil—like Doctor Evil on Austin Powers."

"Whatever, Rose. I think she's in her office."

"Thank you. You need to come, too. Go straight ahead, and I'll meet you there. I'll be about two minutes."

She came towards us. She grabbed our hands again, and dragged us away. "Don't say anything unless she asks you. She's insane. She may eat you if you try anything. Be very, very careful." She whispered to us.

"Rose, she's not that bad. What she means is don't be yourselves. And don't try and burn her." Lissa added, looking pointedly at Christian, who held his hands up in surrender.

"That was one time. I swear I won't do it again."

"Don't compel them until I tell you, Liss. She might let them back of their own will. It's unlikely, but if it's gonna happen, I'd rather that than compulsion." She looked back at her friend. "She'll get less pissed that way." We stopped in front a door which I assumed was Kirova's office. Rose barged straight in, still dragging me and Christian behind her. "Surprise!" she threw her hands in the air enthusiastically.

"Rose!" Kirova yelled. "What is the meaning of this?"

"Surprise?" she threw her hands in the air, with much less enthusiasm than before.

"Rose." There was a warning note in her voice this time. Rose sighed in defeat.

"Fine. After the attack last semester, I thought there would've been a lot less casualties if Christian was here—you saw what he did in Spokane—and then I looked and found he'd left with Dimitri," she pointed to me, "and I looked in his file and saw that he'd transferred here because he's nearly as badass as me. And I thought, shit—"

"Language, Rosemarie." Rose completely ignored her and carried on with what she was saying.

"That's two people who would've helped. Like, half the guardians that died could've been save by these two. So, I went to find them. I thought it would be extra protection for if it ever happens again." She smiled angelically, and I thought about how Lissa had done the exact same earlier. Wow, I thought, these girls have more in common than you'd think, even with their bond.

"Rose. Why should these two be allowed back in? They busted out before, why wouldn't they do it again?"

"They busted out because Christian was depressed. Now he's feeling ship shape and ready to go. Plus, you'll do it anyway; I just thought it would be nice for you to do it of your own free will." She smiled a smug smile and both Kirova's and Alberta's dropped, knowing Lissa was more than capable of it.

"You wouldn't."

"Oh, no,_ I_ wouldn't; _Lissa_ would."

"Well, what about him?" she gestured to me. "He's missed out on five months of training. He'll be behind."

"Unlikely." Rose snorted. "The reason he came here was because he was majorly badass and was going to be working with me. He can still do that—and I really doubt he's behind after only five months. I mean—three of those were summer break, so, technically, he's only missed _two_ months of training." She had a look of smug satisfaction on her face.

"They're not coming back." Kirova stated. There was a sense of finality in her voice. Rose nudged Lissa with her elbow.

"Do your thing, Liss." She nodded and turned to the older women.

"You're going to let them back," she held the compulsion over both of them with no visible effort. Her voice was so soft it was like a lullaby, yet she sounded so confident of her abilities. "Rose will mentor Dimitri and they will go back to all their lessons."

"Yes, Princess."

"Christian, too."

"Of course."

"Good." She started to turn away, but then thought better of it. "Where do they need to go?"

"To the guidance counsellor. He'll draw up a schedule and then they can go to their lessons."

"And you're completely fine with it?"

Kirova smiled a dazed smile. "Of course, Princess."

"Thank you." She dropped the compulsion and turned to Rose. "Can I go back to bed now?" she asked.

"Liss, do you really want to go back to bed? Don't you want to spend some quality time with me?" she feigned hurt; she put a hand over her heart and whimpered.

"Oh, Rose, of course I want to…?" she seemed to leave her sentence unfinished.

"Oh…well, you go, then. I'll take these two to get their schedules." We left the office and almost immediately, Lissa got as far away as possible.

"What did she say to you?" Christian asked quietly. It took me a moment to figure out what he meant, but then I realised what had been going on in the office. Lissa had been speaking to Rose through their bond.

"She'd said she wasn't too hot on the idea of being around you for the next two hours."

"I thought it was something like that." We were standing out on the quad, and Rose had a look of intense concentration on her face.

"Umm…guidance counsellor's this way." She pointed in the opposite direction to what we were going.

We got our schedules in no time, and Rose said she was teaching my first lesson. She showed us to our dorm rooms—they were both in different buildings, since Christian's Moroi and I'm dhampir—and said she'd get changed and then come get me and take me to the lesson.

When she showed up at my door, there was still an hour left before the class started. I started to tell her when she interrupted me.

"Yeah, yeah, I know, there's still ages left until the class begins, yada, yada, yada. I need you to help me set up. It's the first lesson of the year; I need someone tall to hang the punch bags. I'm too small."

"Umm, are you sure that's appropriate attire for teaching an all-boys combat class?" she just shrugged. She was wearing a tight tank top and short shorts—the senior year was almost entirely boys; not a good combination.

"It'll be fine. I'll lay down a few ground rules…and believe me, they'll follow them." She sounded smug. She turned and walked away; I just stared as she sauntered down the hall. "You coming or what?" I snapped out of my trance and followed her.

"You good?" she asked as I reached up to attach the last hook to the bar above my head. I was standing on a small step ladder, and Rose was holding half the weight of the punching bag below me. Even with the step ladder, she wouldn't be tall enough to reach here; even I had to stretch, and I'm about a foot taller than her.

"Yeah," I grunted, hefting it slightly higher. The only reason anyone could reach these punch bags was because they had ridiculously long chains. I think it's so if Moroi decide to come in the gym, they don't hit their head; they're sometimes my height or taller—dhampirs didn't often grow this tall, but Moroi are almost always tall and super-model slim. But, still, it didn't need to be quite this high.

I got it in the hole and jumped down. I shook my arms out; I'd just hung ten punch bags along the far wall in the gym. It'd passed the time quickly and the boys were just filing into the room.

"Aite, boys." She winked as they entered; they seemed thrilled as they saw their new teacher. "Okay, let's lay down a few ground rules." She stood at the front as all the guys slouched on the floor. "First off: wipe the drool off your face; if you're gonna think about me naked, do it on your own time. Second: no, I do not do private training sessions; I have to work with big boy over there," she pointed to me, "every spare second of the day. And last: I'm not the hooker this entire school seems to think I am; you even think about touching my butt, I will personally castrate you." She finished with a dark glare at them—and a couple even looked about to wet themselves.

But there was one who just laughed. "Rose, don't be so harsh; you can't expect a group of boys to not think about touching your but when you're running and fighting. That's just evil. You can't castrate us all!"

"Fine, Eddie, I will make an exception," she went and sat on his lap, "but only because I love you so much." She kissed his cheek before jumping back up and telling them what to do for the next hour. After they'd all partnered up and left to get on with it, she walked over to me. "Looks like it's just me left, big boy. Gonna show me what you got?"

"Bring it on." We made our way to a space in the centre of the room and stood facing each other. We both leaned down into a defensive crouch simultaneously. I made the first move. She had me pinned within seconds.

"Nice try, big boy. I told you you couldn't take me."


	4. AN

**A.N. Very sorry, but I won't update for a while; I closed my poll today and Hopefully Happy Ending won. I will update occasionally, but I will be writing that one more now. I don't want to stop writing this, but I don't have much choice; I can't keep track of what I'm writing in my stories because there's just too many, but I already have tonnes more ideas for stories, so once I get near to the end of that one, there'll be more up…and I will keep updating, but not as much as I was previously…not that that was very often, anyway. Very sorry.**


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